Melania Trump more backroom player than silent pawn
A new book on Melania Trump suggests that, far from being a decorative pawn, she’s a backroom player in the White House who carries genuine clout with the president.
She is the most secretive and enigmatic First Lady in memory, so the promise that the real Melania Trump would be revealed to the world in a new book was a captivating one.
But many mysteries of Melania’s life with the US president Donald Trump remain intact despite the official release in the US Wednesday (AEDT) of ‘The Art of Her Deal; The Untold Story of Melania Trump,’ by Washington Post journalist Mary Jordan.
Despite more than 120 interviews in five countries, Jordan concedes that in three decades in journalism she has never encountered a more daunting challenge than “trying to understand Melania.”
“Most people I know would not speak on the record. Many in the Trump world are governed by NDAs (nondisclosure agreements). Some had been warned by lawyers, family members and others close to Melania not to speak publicly about her,” says Jordan. The White House has denounced the book as being full of false information and sources, saying it belongs “in the fiction genre.”
Yet Jordan’s book offers a mostly sympathetic portrayal of the First Lady and former model, suggesting she is not a pawn but is instead a backroom player in the White House who carries genuine clout with the president.
“The idea that she is not a big influence in the administration is just dead wrong,” says former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who has known the Trumps for many years. “She picks her spots when she wants to speak assertively, but when she does, the president listens. He absolutely consults her on personal matters.”
For example, Jordan says Melania was the force behind Trump’s backdown from the “zero tolerance” border detention policy which briefly saw children separated from their parents.
She also writes that Melania wields significant influence with Trump over his own staff and that she is not one to be crossed.
“People cross Melania at their own risk – and that risk is ‘off with your head.’ I’m not kidding you are gone if she doesn’t like you,” one former White House official says.
The book says Melania initially struggled enormously with the public glare when she found herself as the new First Lady after Trump’s surprise election win in 2016.
“At the core, I think she’s a private person who’s spent a lot of time adjusting to public life,” says a family friend.
Jordan says that in the early days of the administration, Melania would even tell her friends not to call her the First Lady. Her critics soon criticised her remote and distant manner, comparing her unfavourably to other more outgoing First Ladies like Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Barbara Bush. In the first year of her husband’s presidency Melania gave eight speeches compared to 74 for Michelle Obama.
Jordan says Melania used the election win to renegotiate her prenuptial agreement with Trump. Melania called it “taking care of Barron,” and demanded in writing that their young son Barron would be treated equally in financial terms to Trump’s other children.
“During the presidential campaign, Melania felt that a lot had changed since she signed her prenup. She had been with him a long time – longer than any other woman. She believed she made crucial contributions to his success,” writes Jordan.
The book speaks of an often uneasy relationship between Melania and Trump’s daughter Ivanka who works in the West Wing.
It says Melania has been overheard describing Ivanka as “The Princess,” while Ivanka is said to have described Melania as “The Portrait” because she spoke as often as one.
Jordan portrays Melania as a solitary figure not just in the White House but throughout her life, saying she hasn’t kept friends from the chapters in her life – from her childhood in the former Yugoslavia to her days as a model in Europe. She notes there were no bridesmaids at her wedding and says Melania remains vague and secretive about her past.
Of Melania’s personal relationship with Trump, Jordan says they sleep in separate bedrooms and live largely independent lives within the White House.
Yet she disputes the widely held ‘#FreeMelania’ notion that Melania is somehow a prisoner in a gilded cage, disinterested in her husband and his presidency – a reluctant First Lady.
“A common narrative about Melania is that she simply wanted to marry a wealthy man, and that she was horrified when Trump entered politics in 2015 and disrupted her comfortable world,’ she writes. “But there is ample evidence that from the very beginning, Melania not only accepted and embraced Trump’s political aspirations but was also an encouraging partner.”
“She works at remaining mysterious,” Jordan writes. “In her own way, she is as complex and complicated as her husband. She is also much more like him than it appears … both are avid creators of their own history.”
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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